TravelStream™ news feed for member eskimo13 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/eskimo13 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:55:04 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184557920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184557920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184557920/tpod.html Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:55:04 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Cedar City, Utah, United States

Today we left the hotel here in Cedar City and proceded with our plan to go to Zion National Park. We went first to the visitor's center and from there we caught a shuttle into the canyon. Private cars are not allowed into the main part of the canyon during the height of the summer season; only the 'environmentally friendly' propane-powered busses which are free to ride. They run about every six minutes so it's easy to jump off and on at the various points of interest and not have to worry about 'losing time'.

We decided to get off at the first stop so that we could listen to a Ranger give a talk about the geological history of the area and to also get the boys the materials they needed to get their certification as Junior Rangers for this park too.

Elaine's mom wanted to go to a part of the park she had fond memories of where, twenty-five years ago or so, she hiked up a trail and it took her behind a waterfall. So, we found the trail at "Weeping Rock" and it was about an eighth of a mile up, with some of it being at quite an incline. We found the waterfall but she said it was nothing like the amount of water that it used to be.

After getting back on the shuttle we decided to go see the "Emerald Pools" which also involved hiking. There were at least two choices of how to get there and the choice we made turned out to be the most challenging and the longest at almost two miles. Now, had you asked me straight out if I would like to hike two miles up a mountain to see a pool of water, my answer would most certainly have been "No thanks", BUT, I had no idea it was going to be such an undertaking, nor did I know how disappointingly small and uninspiring these 'pools' would be. So, this being a family outing and me being in the 'go with the flow' mode, I just foolishly 'went along'. Oh my goodness. I'll be the first to admit to being overweight and overfed and underexercised, and it showed. I did not have a heart attack. I did not collapse. I did not stop for breath every five minutes. But to call what I did today "hiking" would do a disservice to REAL HIKERS.

As the last in line at the end of our sojourn I hobbled across the bridge, across a meadow, into the Zion Lodge, into the nearest chair where I took off my shoes and massaged my feet and tried to get my heart, lungs, muscles etc to pretend that they actually did know each other and had worked together before at some time. When asked about doing something else I let it be known that I would not be up for anything that involved walking, but viewing something out a bus window would be marginally acceptable.

All in all, it was a very great day. The scenery here is breathtaking and if you have any interest in tectonic plates, sedimentary rock, hydro-gravitational forces, and the theories of some of our scientific community about the age of our planet (whether you subscribe to these theories or whether you have your own ideas via your belief in the story the Bible tells), there's just no possible way you can come away from exposure to the grandeur that places like Zion National Park bestow on us with anything less than respect for nature, the nature that God created.

By now you have at least had the chance to see some of the pictures I posted above. I wish I could put them under this text, but alas, if it is possible I haven't discovered the method. I was, or should I say I hope to be, able to put some text with some of the pics individually. I was not able to access the pictures that were still in my camera when I turned in the last entry late last night so some of them are also above. Essentially, the pictures above represent a variety of parts of this trip. I have uploaded all of the ones I took today, have edited (thrown out) some and 'enhanced' others, so what I intend to post of them above should bring us up to date. (I think I also said that last night, no?) Sorry. To complicate matters, it turns out that this WiFi connection we're accessing here at the hotel will also 'Time You OUT!" so that I have had to do and re-do things a few times. Good thing I've got nothing better to do but sleep. After all, I am on vacation, aren't I? Tomorrow we're going to Bryce Canyon. Sorry if I've misspelled that.

Untill next time,
Quinn

Edit: Now that I have put in the pictures I must tell you I tried something different. If you haven't already figured it out, go back and click on 'view album', then click on the first picture. This will show the text (Story) that goes with each one and will make them bigger. Also, I tried to put in more than these, just a few landscape type shots from Zion today, but got discouraged after three attempts were thwarted. Maybe I can include some of these next time.
Thanks and good night
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185894060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185894060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185894060/tpod.html Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:10:36 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Well hello everyone,
We did finally make it home to Nashville. There was one hiccup in the airline travel, but it was minor compared to some- just a delay at the Charlotte airport. It seems that the plane we were waiting for was coming from Washington, DC and there was some bad weather there. We ended up with a delay of about three hours, but given that we were originally supposed to be home around 6PM, it was not a big deal.

We were a little taken aback at the Denver airport, though. Huge. Humongous. Complicated. Very busy. We had debated about how early we needed to arrive at the airport, and how reliable the hotel shuttle was going to be, considering that when we used it the day before to bring us back to the hotel after dropping off the rental cars there seemed to be some interruption in the shuttle schedule which left us on the curb there for over an hour. We determined that 'better safe than sorry' would be the motto for the morning, so we arranged to go to the airport with about 3 hours to spare. GOOD THING!

The line at the counter was huge, though the airline personel were doing a great job, and we moved along as fast as could be expected. After the time consumption there, the line at the security processing point was something like we've never seen. Most of our traveling in the past few years has been between Nashville's BNA and West Palm Beach's PBIA. The DIA in Denver was a different animal. They had the 'ropes' set up in what I call a 'cattle run' and each pass was the whole width of the huge main airport space. It had us switching back and forth about twenty times, and that's not hyperbole.

All things considered, it went well. We had a great once-in-a-lifetime trip that none of us will ever forget, and right here and now I must make sure you all know that this trip was made possible for us to participate in by Elaine's parents. On our own, we could never have afforded to do this kind of thing. We will always be grateful to them for their generosity and willingness to have us along with them on this wonderful journey.

Once again I wish to thank all of you for reading. We hope you have enjoyed keeping up with our travels. We especially wish to thank all of you who sent us private emails in response and sent us good wishes. To you who made public comments on the website, please know that your willingness to post in a public forum was greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks to all,
Blessings to all,
Quinn, Elaine, Samuel, and Jacob
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184417520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184417520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184417520/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 01:00:23 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Williams, Arizona, United States

I'm sitting in the back seat of a rented Ford Taurus in the parking lot of an RV Park in Williams, Arizona, USA. It's 6AM and I've been up most of the night. Behind me is the office building for the RV Park and a pet kennel. To my left is a children's playground. Ahead of me across the street is a steakhouse shaped like a barn. Why? Why am I all alone at sunup in a parking lot sitting in the back seat? Wi-Fi... that's the short answer. Our hotel doesn't provide internet access, but recommends the capability of hooking up through the RV Park next door. But there is not one table. Not one electrical plug. And rather than struggle with juggling this laptop as I stand, I've chosen, after multiple attempts at loging on, and using, then charging, then using the battery herein, to try this. I'm going to hit 'save' now just in case I lose power, or connection, etc..

OK! Now, on the the primary purpose of going through all this, which is to update you regarding our travels.
We flew out of DFW on Wednesday the 11th into Phoenix, then on to Flagstaff, Az. where we picked up the rental car in which I now sit and met up with Elaine's parents and her brother David. We all drove to Williams, where we registered with our hotel and had dinner. I'll try to just hit the high points here and let you fill in the details. The next morning we got on the Grand Canyon Railway and made the two and a half hour rail trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was an altogether wonderful trip and I would recommend it to anyone! Lots of fun and interaction with the staff, with each car having their own PTA (Personal Travel Assistant). They especially cater to families with children and make it lots of fun for everyone.

We had a great and educational time at the canyon, the boys got sworn in as "Junior Rangers" and got their patches, certificates, and pins. When I have more time and better access I'll insert some pictures, of which there are many, to be sure.

We stayed overnight at the canyon, then the next afternoon, yesterday, we headed back to Williams on the train.

I'm sure you'll forgive me for being brief from this point on today, due to the aforementioned circumstances and the fact that everyone will be packing up in a few minutes for departure on the next 'leg' of our trip. After breakfast we'll be driving back to Flagstaff, then heading north to Zion National Park. We've been out of service area for our cell phones for the whole of the Canyon trip also, I forgot to say, so I had to use a PayPhone (HORRORS), to call my sister to wish her a happy birthday yesterday!

Hopefully, by the time we settle in a hotel tonight we will have internet access (and yes, cell phones too?) so I'll have more time to do a better job here. We want to thank you all for reading and we especially appreciate your comments.

More later,
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185674820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185674820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185674820/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:40:53 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Denver, Colorado, United States

Hello there everyone,
We made it to Denver yesterday afternoon. It was a long, uneventful trip from Keystone, South Dakota, with just the requisite stops along the way. Well, uneventful if you don't count the generally rainy conditions and the violent, heavy downpour we drove through just after we crossed the Colorado state line! Man, that was some heavy rain. Some of the cars pulled over to the side of the road, but not us. We weren't having any of that. I was following Elaine's parents and David in a tandem situation and they didn't stop, so we didn't stop. In fact, it was raining so hard that everybody practically came down to a slow crawl anyway, even if they didn't pull over to wait it out.

We went straight to our hotel and we were just plumb tuckered out, so just dinner and then we packed it in. Even I went to bed 'early'.

We never did formulate a plan for today in Denver, and with everybody being so strung out from the road last night, we sorta called today a 'free' day and split into two groups. My little group of four thought that we would just stay at the hotel and decompress, but when it came down to it, I decided I couldn't do that. I mean, here we were in Denver, Colorado with a day to ourselves and I just couldn't make myself 'waste' that time, so I convinced Elaine to come with me (and the boys) and let me take us downtown to look around and pick out a nice place for lunch. She agreed to this, provided we come back to the hotel and not commit to anything else for the day except swimming, dinner and packing for the plane ride tomorrow.

So that's what we did. Our hotel is near the airport and it is so far away from Denver proper that we hadn't seen anything of Denver, and I like being downtown in any and every city anyway. To me, that's where the action is and where you can get the 'flavor' of a town the best. I asked her to indulge me in this, knowing that she is not the 'downtown type' and hates the traffic etc..

We found our way downtown and cruised the area and saw something we wanted to explore. It was a street section downtown that only allowed the trollys, as far as motorized vehicles. A pedestrian-only area several blocks long, with lots of restaurants and shops. There were street musicians and lots of people-watching to be done. We also ran across a tent that was set up to promote the aquarium with some animal exhibits, a face painter, a balloon animal maker and this really funny person in a dog costume, who all the kids loved interacting with. The dog's name was "Bruiser".

We chose a restaurant that had a sidewalk table area and chose to sit outside. I was a beautiful day with moderate temperatures, so we took advantage. Denver has some trollys that reminded me of the old trolly cars in San Francisco, except modernized. They were much longer, for one thing, like two busses put together, but they did run on tracks like a train and they did get their power from an overhead cable. There was one of these lines that ran right past the restaurant where we sat outside and the kids had fun listening to the bells and counting the number of times they passed by.

Also, a fire truck pulled up and parked across the street (in front of a fire-hydrant) and all the firefighters came into the restaurant where we were to have lunch. A few minutes later there was a second truck that parked down the block and they also came to lunch. But as the first group was probably about half through, they got a call and all came bailing out of the restaurant and onto the truck and fired up the siren. This, of course, made the boys very happy! Later I asked our waitress if their place was a 'hang-out' for firefighters and she said that they had never been in before! Weird!

While I'm at it here, let me put in a plug for this restaurant named The Rocky Mountain Diner at the corner of 18th and Stout. We didn't do any research or ask anybody about it, I just stopped 'cause I liked the way it looked. The food was great. I mean, really good. Especially for a lunchtime situation in a downtown restaurant. Maybe I'm a bit jaded, but I didn't expect anything special. Well, I got surprised. Elaine is a big Ceasar Salad fan and usually gets one with chicken on it, but this time she opted for the Blackened Ahi Tuna Ceasar and LOVED it. Not too much spice, and while she never eats the croutons 'cause they're just too hard, these were obviously made fresh from fresh bread, and while crunchy, they were also soft inside. Yum! She declared this the "best Ceasar Salad I've ever had!". I had the roasted duck enchiladas with Havarti cheese, with red-chile rice and black beans. Awesome!

True to our agreement, I brought us back to our hotel where the others went swimming and I got onto the computer, trying to catch up on my email. Dad and I set out to the airport to return the rental cars and caught the hotel shuttle back.

We're all set up to fly back to Nashville tomorrow. Our flight out of Denver is in the late morning, with a layover in Charlotte, NC. If all goes according to plan, we'll be home by suppertime.

I'm planning to do one more entry here after we get settled at home.

Wish us luck tomorrow with the air travel, and we'll see you on the 'flip-side'. Once again, thanks for all your emails, comments and calls while we've been gone. We know how fortunate we are to have so many good friends.
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185591780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185591780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185591780/tpod.html Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:07:26 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Keystone, South Dakota, United States

It's our second night here in Keystone, South Dakota. Today we majored in caving. No, we didn't all just give in, at least not in general, but we did go south to the Wind Cave National Park.

This is the first national park created specifically for the protection of a cave system. It is currently the fourth longest cave system in the United States. I say currently because it is not fully explored yet. Every year a new expedition adds on several miles as they are explored. It is unique in several ways compared to other cave systems in the U.S.. There are very few, if any, stalagmites or stalagtites since there is virtually no water seeping down from the surface or weeping from the rock. It does, however, have something called "boxwork" that is very unique. These are sedimentary deposit formations from before the cave was created by flowing water washing away the softest rock. Now. don't quote me on this because I wasn't taking notes, but I believe these parts didn't wash away because they had a different mineral make-up and became 'calcite'??? Something like that. Anyway, their formations were stronger than the surrounding material and therefore they stayed. These formations, which sort of look like corrugation, did not 'grow' after the cave was formed, but preceded the formation of the cave.

We got a bit of a late/lazy start this morning as we weren't 'under the gun' to get a lot accomplished, which was fortunate considering the route we took. We were just going by one of the maps that is handed out at any establishment in the neighborhood which covers most of the tourist sites and destinations. The problem with these maps, it turns out, is that they are a bit simplistic and therefore not very accurate. We took what looked like the quickest way from our hotel area to the area we wanted to visit, but the little 'tourist' map did not represent the reality of the route. This means we ended up on a road that meandered through the mountains with two lanes and many, many switchbacks and hairpin turns and a new engineering feat of roadbuilding we had never seen before and we called it the 'corkscrew'. I really have never seen this method of constructing a road to go up a mountain side. Picture being on a corkscrew as your road and you'll maybe understand. Sometimes we went up only one and a half turns, 360 degrees plus, but I swear there was one that made at least another turn. This was an altogether hairy situation, what with the amount of traffic before and behind us.

We got back from this adventure after having a late lunch/ early dinner, and went swimming in the hotel pool. Elaine and I ushered the kiddos into bed early so that we could go out, just the two of us, with Elaine's parents in their room next to ours with a connecting door. They had agreed to 'babysit' for us and we got the kids processed and into bed before turning the lights out and arranging the connecting doors so that the kids could be monitored. Elaine and I went into 'downtown Keystone' to take some pictures and do some shopping. We found quite a few 'junk shops' where all manner of stuff is purveyed to tourists like us. In one of these shops we found a cute little wooden box that was made for the tooth fairy to leave money in exchange for the tooth you put into it, and it just happened that Samuel had lost another tooth just this evening, so right now, that new little box is under his pillow.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a major driving day. Our next (and last) destination of this trip, except home, of course, is Denver, Colorado where we will spend two nights and fly home from there to Nashville, via Charlotte, NC. on Sunday. I don't think I've ever been to Denver, except maybe as a small child, and I'm really looking forward to it. I am not, however, looking forward to all that driving.

I'll go now and put up a few pictures from today. I didn't take many today, and some of those from the cave tour didn't come out very well, but hey, just that many less for you to have to look at, right?

Once again, thank you for keeping up with these little stories and thank you for your comments here and in the private emails you send to us. We love love love hearing from YOU.

G'nite all,
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185415740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185415740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185415740/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:05:02 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Keystone, South Dakota, United States

Howdy from South Dakota!

At my last entry, I was in our hotel room in Cody, Wyoming, and it was early morning on Tuesday. At least it was early when I started. By the time I got the thing posted and got a shower and got all the luggage into the car, it was almost 11:30. I went down the block to meet up with the rest of the family where they were enjoying the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center. Of course, by the time I got there they were just about finished. I got to see just a little bit, then it was time for us to go.

This is a beautiful facility though. It is actually five different museums or exhibits in one. There's a Museum of Natural Hisory, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Plains Indians Museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, and the Cody Firearms Museum.

One of the very cool things I saw first was in the Buffalo Bill Museum. In different sections on the wall was a comparison of the timeline of Buffalo Bill's life against what was going on in the rest of the world. Something that caught my eye was the fact that during the early part of the career of Buffalo Bill, elsewhere in the world Karl Marx was writing the "Communist Manifesto". Now, in my limited brain space where world history has any cells assigned to the subject, I never would have put those two things in the same time frame. Shows what I know!

I was then able to scoot over to the firearms display, and there again, while I'm interested in the subject, I certainly have a glancing knowledge at best. But, I can tell you this... this is a very, very well put together assemblage of most, if not all, of the progression of the art of firearms throughout history. Lots and lots of what may be one-of-a-kind examples of vintage guns from all over the world. Very interesting.

As the rest of the group left no doubt that it was time to move on, we began our trek towards Sheridan, Wy. where we were to spend the next night. This was our main focus of the day as it was projected to take the bulk of the day, which it did. One place we came into was called Greybull, Wyoming. Elaine's mom spotted a quilting store and Dad was flexible enough to agree to pull it over so she could take a look. Well, the rest of us figured that there was no possible way she was gonna make it out of there in the allotted 15 minutes Dad had given her, so we bailed out of the car and began to look around. We spotted the local Chamber of Commerce and, two doors down, the Sugar Shack. We decided we deserved some root beer floats while we waited. David was carrying his sketch pad and showed us a drawing he had been working on in the car of a wolf, and as we were praising him on his drawing, I jokingly told him he should take it into the Chamber of Commerce and have them run a copy of it and see if they would put it in their front window. Well, do you know that he did just that! And guess what? The woman he spoke to had an affinity for wolves and was an artist herself! She not only ran a great copy of his drawing, but let him sign it and put under his signature where he is from and she put it right into the front window!

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful... just lots of driving, and soon enough we made it to Sheridan, Wyoming. We found our hotel, then took some advice and a recommendation and had dinner at a place downtown called "Oliver's". Wow, what a great meal. Great service, imaginative plate presentations, a well-varied menu, a tastefully appointed dining room, and not overpriced. Very nice.

That was last night. This morning we moved on to Keystone, South Dakota. I believe we will be here for two nights. On the way here today we stopped for lunch at a Pizza Hut in the town of Custer, SD. and as soon as we were seated, which took some scrambling since we were a party of seven at 1:30 in the afternoon, a big thunderstorm came up and there was pea-sized hail along with big fat drops of rain. It hadn't even looked like rain was coming when we pulled into the restaurant, but all of a sudden, there it was.

We began to doubt how long it would last and whether it would affect our sightseeing plans for the day, but as we plodded our way toward our next destination it did clear up a bit. We made it to Mount Rushmore Memorial Park and had our visit there. Funny. but as we were entering the park and proceeding towards the observation area, we heard music and what sounded like cheering, so as we approached the amphitheatre area we were greeted with the presence of several hundred persons which we guessed were Air Force recruits, by the insignias on their shirts. There were quite a few seated in the amphitheatre and more were coming up the hill to our right while jogging and calling cadence.

Well, we sat down and watched for a while and as the last group came up the trail and joined the others, the US flag was brought out onto the stage, music was started up, and the National Anthem was played while the recruits and the public stood, they in salute, we with hands over hearts. Col. Joe Abbott came to the microphone and announced that, indeed, these were Air Force recruits who had just today finished a phase of their training and had come to the facility today at the end of a two-mile hike/run up Mount Rushmore. This, in fact, was the very first time one of these classes of recruits had been assembled there at Mount Rushmore for a recognition ceremony. We just happened to be there at the right time and at the right place to see something which had never been done before! Very cool. Awards were given out to outstanding recruits in several endeavors of training and the crowd was very enthusiastic in their appreciation of these men and women. It was a truly moving experience.

Having done that, we figured we'd go for broke and try to also squeeze in a visit to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which was just down the road. I don't know if you know anything about Crazy Horse, or the memorial which is under construction, but the pictures I will post will give you some idea what it's all about. We watched an orientation film about the project and that answered a lot of my quesitions about it, including "What's taking so long?"

This project was started in about 1948 and at first glance it doesn't look like they've gotten very far. But when you take into consideration the manpower, the money, the weather, etc. it all begins to make sense. And in reality, there has been much more done that is not easily apparent. When finished, it will be the world's largest sculpture, by far. In fact, the four faces of Mt. Rushmore could fit in the space that will be just part of the head of Crazy Horse, behind the eyes.

Well, I'll be going. I have to get to the photo posting part of this entry and it's already 11:30. We'll be here tomorrow and tomorrow night. I'm not sure what we have planned in this area tomorrow, but you can bet it won't be boring!

Good night,
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185283260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185283260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1185283260/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:11:13 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Cody, Wyoming, United States

Well hello there,
The last time I "talked" to you we were about to enter Yellowstone Park. That was several days ago and a lot has happened, but the park has no internet access so I've been unable to post here.

We saw Old Faithful and several other geysers. We saw bear, elk, bison, ground squirrels(which they call 'Whistle Pigs'), we saw Ospreys, Golden Eagles, coyotes, chipmunks and assorted other animals. That's the short of it.

The last post I made here, I believe, was on Friday night, but being after midnight it went out as 7/21. On Saturday morning, 7/21, waking up in Jackson, Wy., I got up and left the hotel early to go and get gas because as far as I knew, mine was the only one of the three that needed it and I didn't want to hold up the caravan. After I did that, though, I went on downtown to take some pictures that I hadn't had the opportunity to take. There again, not to hold up the progress of the group.

I found a great little 'farmer's market' was set up on the town square. I bought some Ranier Cherries, some fresh raspberries, and some Bison Bratwursts. There were also cheeses and jams and jellies and other food products and fresh fruits and veggies. As I headed back to the hotel, I also ran across a crafts fair that had apparently been going since the day before, but wasn't scheduled to open 'till 10am.

Back to the hotel, breakfast, then the trip to Yellowstone. Lots of beautiful scenery and photo ops. After getting there in the late afternoon, we went to see Old Faithful (it's a law) and just missed it. It had just gone off and there were people streaming out of the area and the next 'blow' would be in about an hour and a half. We saw some other geysers and occupied ourselves till the next viewing of Old Faithful. The kids loved it.

Since we were nowhere near the hotel which we had booked for the next two nights, which was Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge, we decided to eat at a restaurant on the park premesis. It was during this dinner that we began to realize just how hot it was in the restaurant, and I'm looking around and there were some tiny vent windows open at the top of the room, but no fans, and apparently no air conditioning. This building, we found out, was built in 1998. Hamburgers were $14. We then went on to the hotel and didn't arrive there untill about 10pm. and settled in quickly. More detail about the hotel to come.

The next morning we were wakened by the sound through the open window of bleating elk! I got up and looked out the window and there were about 20-25 elk on the lawn of the hotel. Cows and calves, mostly. Some of the calves were cavorting, rearing, playing around, and the sounds we had heard were the sounds of a mother scolding her children. There were several people out taking photos, and several cars stopping on their way leaving the hotel for the day. It seemed, by the behaviour of the elk, that this was not the first visit, maybe even a daily occurance. I took some poor photos through the screen, then ended up outside for some better shots.

On this morning we aimed to be at another "Ranger Talk", partly so that the boys could get their Junior Ranger credentials from this park. His talk was about the bears in the park and their conservation, re-population, and what to do if you encounter a bear in the wild. All very interesting. Then we went into the building and watched a movie about the history of the park.

I was able to find out that Yellowstone is and was the very first National Park. After the area was explored, by a person whose name I can't recall right now, his reports of the geysers and some other 'unbelievable' features resulted in his observations not being taken seriously! Several others then reported similarly and finally the area was given the attention it deserved. Then there was a period of time when lots of men invaded the area just to exploit the animal and mineral resources. So eventually, the army moved in to establish order and Fort Yellowstone was created. One of these buildings on the fort became the hotel we stayed in. Also, the Army Corps of Engineers built the fort, a hydro-electric plant, and 400 miles of roads. This road system was the first in the country to be built as a unit, all to the same standards, and was regarded as a major accomplishment in the country at that time.

Yellowstone Park itself is in a caldera. This area used to be a mountain, which became a volcano, which blew, which collapsed into itself and created a caldera, which is the park. So, millions of visitors per year, whether they know it or not, are in a volcano. Too cool! There also is a crater within a crater, which is Yellowstone Lake.

The hotel, as I've said, was on the campus of "Fort Yellowstone" and apparently they are VERY interested in preservation, to the extent that there is no cell phone service in the whole park area, no internet access, no TV, no shower in our room, and no air conditioning. Even outside of our hotel, there was only one building we visited that had any air conditioning at all and it was inefficient.

As a tourist, we can expect to encounter different circumstances than we are used to when we travel. We did, however, express to several of the clerks and employees we encountered our concern about the lack of air conditioning anywhere in the park, and one person told 'us' that due to "Historical Preservation" regulations, they were not allowed to modify the buildings to allow for the installation of such systems. Yet, the building I refferred to earlier, which was built in 1998 was also not built with air conditioning. ?????? The park employs hundreds of people, all of whom must work in these conditions day in and day out. I feel bad for them. It's kind of ironic to tour the geysers and the wilderness areas, go into a gift shop or a restaurant, sit down to enjoy a meal and get hit with a wall of heat which is worse than that outside!

OK, so for the continuity of the time-line, Sunday and Monday were spent in Yellowstone and Monday afternoon we moved on to Cody, Wyoming, where we arrived late afternoon yesterday. Checked into our hotel, went swimming in a very unusual pool/hot tub that were both lined with stainless steel! Maybe I just don't get around enough, but I've never seen this before. Unusual but very cool. Then we went to Cody Night Rodeo. That was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. Set against the mountains in an outdoor arena, it runs nightly during the summer. The last event was the bull-riding, and the kids all were looking forward to that. I wish I could have seen an 'instant-replay' of some of those rides. No stretchers were involved, but you could tell there were some deffinite injuries.

It was too late last night to even think of posting here, so given that John and his children had to be at the airport this morning to fly home to New Jersey, we have some lag time this morning and I got started early on this. I will now go into the photo posting process and hope that I don't hold up the plans of the group here. Today we plan to go down the road and vist the "Buffalo Bill Cody" museum, then on to Sheridan, Wy. where we will stay tonight.

Stay tuned,
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184994900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184994900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184994900/tpod.html Sat, 21 Jul 2007 03:04:28 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Jackson, Wyoming, United States

Hello all,
Another action-packed day here at Jackson Hole. John (Elaine's brother) and his kids did finally make it last night after all their airport troubles, and wouldn't you know his kids were up bright and early this morning.

After we all got coordinated and rolling, we went to Teton Park, where we rode a gondola up the mountain approximately 3,000 ft straight up. At the top was a great view, a gift shop, a great view, a deli, a great view, and a restaurant. Did I mention the great view?

We all took some pictures and perused the gift shop, then rode back down and went back to the hotel to regroup. Then came the main event of the day... whitewater rafting! The four of us who did it were all inexperienced at this and in our raft were also three others who had never done it either. We had a great guide/boatman named Everett who made us feel safe and adventurous at the same time and also kept us entertained.

We reported to the building which houses the rafting company. They had told us to be there by 1 PM but as we slid into the parking lot at about two minutes to one, we found out that our trip didn't really start till 1:30! They just try to make sure everyone is there before the bus leaves. So, we took some deep breaths and waited for our group to depart. There was a whole bus load of people in our time slot and the bus ride took about 30 minutes. After some instruction and safety rules, we set out down the river with Everett as our guide.

It was GREAT! Some of it was quite calm, but just about the time your heart rate started to go back down, there was another set of rapids to challenge you. After about an hour and a half and several miles, we were at the pick-up point. During the trip we were invited at three different points to jump out of the raft and into the river. Several of those on the boat did just that, and more than once. We all got wet, some of us got sunburned, some got sore from paddling, but we all had a great time.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that this was an adults-only ride. Mom and Dad took the four children on an excursion to "The Park" where Samuel and Jacob both got yet another set of credentials as Junior Rangers.

We all met back at the hotel, went swimming, then dinner. After dinner we all piled into two cars to head out to an area of the National Elk Refuge to see some Bison. How we found out about this I don't know, but apparently it's no secret because when we got out there, there were quite a few cars on that road, many of them pulled over and taking pictures. We did see a herd of Bison coming across the field to our right, and crossing the road. I managed to snap a few pics before my camera batteries gave out.

That's it for today. Tomorrow, it's off to Yellowstone Park.
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184910120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184910120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184910120/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:13:22 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States

Howdy from Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

I didn't take many pictures today, at least not in the morning, as we were in a two-car caravan on a mission and stops were few. We were trying to get to Jackson Hole by around noon in anticipation of John's arrival. I spoke yesterday of Elaine's brother John coming with two of his children, if you'll remember. Well, we got word that John had missed his flight out of New Jersey by only a few minutes. Drat. So the newest information was that he was going to have to take a later flight which would put him here around 3:30. This meant that we could relax just a bit with our own schedule, so we began to be more open to stopping along the way.

All in all today we passed in and out of 4 National Forrests. They were, Cache N.F., Caribou N.F., Bridger N.F., and Targhee N.F..

Just out of Cache National Forrest we came upon a town called Garden City and also encountered Bear Lake. This area was very picturesque- a cool little town and Bear Lake was pretty big. Little did we know that this would be the beginning of lots and lots of places and things with a "Bear" theme.

Back on the road we came into Paris, Idaho. Yes, Idaho. Now I must admit to you that it wasn't me who came up with the itenirary for this trip. Also, since I've been doing the driving, Elaine has done a great job of navigating. This is to explain how all of a sudden I 'woke up' in Idaho. This was the first I had known that our route would take us through a corner of Idaho and it was just beautiful.

As we approached the town of Montpilier (please forgive me if I've butchered the spelling) we saw signs advertising The Oregon/California Trail Center. A little two-way radio negotiating ensued and we decided to drop in. We were offered a one-hour tour but declined and did a walk-through on our own. When we went downstairs to the "Trails and Rails" exhibit we found a wonderful young lady there who spent just gobs of time and attention on our two boys, showing them all the vintage products, tools, and systems.

Afterward we went across the street for some lunch at a place that turned out to be very busy because of a local baseball game or tournament and our kids had a blast in the "PlayZone" with the others.

We then pushed on toward Jackson Hole, with several stops along the way for pictures, etc..

We got to our hotel earlier in the day than we have been, so after checking in we were able to go to the pool, which turned out to be really great. It is an indoor/outdoor pool with two jacuzzis. Then on to dinner after finding out that John and his kids were now stuck at the airport where they had a layover and that his arrival had been bumped now till 9PM. Bummer. We felt so sorry for him. From our end it seemed that his whole day had been spent just trying to get here. Even as I type this, they should be on the way from the airport, with any luck at all.

We had a spectacular dinner at a restaurant just behind us called "The Gun Barrell Steakhouse" and I had Elk for the first time! It was really, really good. I had the Elk Chop, someone else at our table had the "Velvet Elk" which was medallions in a rich sauce. One other of our party had the Prime Rib of Bison which got great reviews. Also on the menu were Bison Ribs, among other, more "normal" selections. The restaurant itself was decorated like a hunting lodge and had lots of animal trophys everywhere. I'm thinking that the local chapter of PETA does not hold their meetings there!

On tap for tomorrow, I hear, is some white-water rafting on the Snake River. I'm psyched for this, I'll tell ya. After surviving hang-gliding on my 46th birthday and that two mile hike the other day, it should be a piece of cake!
I have to tell you, in conclusion, that although we still have far to go on this trip and much to see and do, I think that Jackson Hole is the most beautiful place we've seen yet and we are soooo lucky to be here.
Now, on to the pictures.
Good night,
Quinn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184821440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184821440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/eskimo13/wild_west_tour/1184821440/tpod.html Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:24:57 -0400 The Majesty of God's Green Earth

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Logan, Utah, United States

Hello everyone,
After breakfast this morning we met up with some friends of Elaine's parents who live on a ranch in the Provo/Sandy area and they were nice enough to take us to a local attraction they thought we would enjoy. We went to the Bingham Canyon Mine, owned by Kennecott Utah Copper. Wow, I wasn't prepared for what we found!

"Known as the 'Richest Hole on Earth', this gigantic operation has yeilded more than 17 million tons of copper metal, as well as vast quantities of gold, silver and molybdenum. It is the largest man-made excavation in the world. Since open-pit mining began in 1906, more than seven billion tons of material have been removed, creating a pit more than three quarters of a mile deep and two-and-a-half miles wide.

"The Sears tower at 1454 feet tall, would reach only half way up the mine. Bingham Canyon ore has yeilded more than 17 million tons of copper, 23 million ounces of gold, 190 million ounces of silver and 850 million pounds of ,molybdenum, and about 450,000 tons of material are removed daily.

There is a visitor's center with lots of exhibits and a film to watch, and also there's a gift shop.

Next stop was the Olympic Park, scene of the Winter Olympics of 2000, just outside of Park City, Utah. There I saw something I'd never seen before. Skiers in full garb plus life jackets going down ski jumps and into a swimming pool! Outrageous. There were tons of kids of all ages there and several different skill levels and degrees of difficulty. David and I did a very fun 'zip line' together.

Then we went on to Park City 'proper' and found more fun stuff to do, This is a very cool area with lots of 'mountain' activities to do. There was a ski lift to take us to do the Alpine slide, which David did alone and Elaine and I both did with one child each. Fast and lots of fun! There was also a cool 'coaster' and another zip line.

So that was about it for today. Bought some copper trinkets and jewlery as gifts and some souveniers for the kids, then came on to Logan for the night. I'll go now and put up some photos from today.

Tomorrow we go to Jackson Hole, Wy. and we'll meet up with Elaine's other brother John who is bringing two of his four children with him. They will be with us for four days as we go through Yellowstone Park and do some white-water rafting. Oy, my back hurts just thinking about it.

Nite-nite,
Quinn
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